Superarchitettura is a theoretical & conceptual framework, whose physical definition has been given at the homonymous 1966 exhibition, held at Jolly2, an art gallery of

Pistoia Pistoia (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about north-west of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typic ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. According to the

Radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

Manifesto, "Superarchitettura is the architecture of superproduction, superconsumption, superinduction to consume, the supermarket, the superman, super gas". Superarchitettura is the overcoming of centuries of constant and consistent art vision. It is the overtaking of ancient artistic pratiques in favour of new

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

s, the Sixties so-called " neo avant-gardes". Superarchitettura's movement combined the inventiveness of Pop Art with the dynamics of

mass production Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines ...

(for the latter, see its definition according to

Mackintosh The Mackintosh raincoat (abbreviated as mac) is a form of waterproof raincoat, first sold in 1824, made of rubberised textile, fabric. The Mackintosh is named after its Scotland, Scottish inventor Charles Macintosh, although many writers adde ...

' ideas and conceptions).

Archizoom and Superstudio

The Superarchitettura theoretical framework, part of the Radical Design movement, after its beginning, got split up in two main philosophical entities and interpretations, the first incarnated by

Archizoom Associati Archizoom Associati was a design studio from Florence, Italy. The founders were Andrea Branzi (architect and designer), Gilberto Corretti (architect and designer), Paolo Deganello (architect and designer) and Massimo Morozzi (architect and designe ...

, the second by

Superstudio Superstudio was an architectural firm, founded in 1966 in Florence, Italy by Adolfo Natalini and . Gian Piero Frassinelli, Alessandro, and Roberto Magris, Alessandro Poli later joined. History Superstudio was a major part of the Radical period ( ...

. Archizoom and Superstudio held the Exhibition. Such event represented a milestone in the Italian Radical Design. According to the first group (to which belonged "free thinkers" -architects and designers- like

Andrea Branzi Andrea Branzi (30 November 1938 – 9 October 2023) was an Italian architect, designer, and academic. He was born and raised in Florence, though he lived and worked in Milan for much of his career. He was a professor and chairman of the School ...

, Gilberto Corretti, Paolo Deganello, Massimo Morozzi, Dario Bartolini and Lucia Bartolini), in order to get away from Tradition, men must overturn conventions and exalt everything kitsch as a statement of aesthetic and ideological challenge. On the other side, according to the second group (to which belonged

Adolfo Natalini Adolfo Natalini (10 May 1941 – 23 January 2020) was an Italian architect. Biography Natalini founded the architectural company Superstudio in 1966 along with Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, Gian Piero Frassinelli, Alessandro and Roberto Magris, a ...

, Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, Piero Frassinelli, Alessandro Magris and

Roberto Magris Roberto Magris (born 19 June 1959) is an Italian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Early life Magris was born in Trieste, Italy, on 19 June 1959. He had piano lessons between the ages of four and sixteen. He became interested in jazz aft ...

), to run away from Tradition, a new architecture must be imagined and created, which must be based on rejecting the impositions of production in favour of symbolic, dreamy values, which can ideologically fit into the landscape.

Anti-Design as the Sinthesis

These two philosophical interpretations of the Radical Design being conceivable as

Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...

' "

Thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

" and "

Antithesis Antithesis (: antitheses; Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introd ...

", its overcoming brought to a very peculiar "

Synthesis Synthesis or synthesize may refer to: Science Chemistry and biochemistry *Chemical synthesis, the execution of chemical reactions to form a more complex molecule from chemical precursors **Organic synthesis, the chemical synthesis of organi ...

". Such was the Anti-Design framework, son of such dispute.{{Clarify, date=September 2009 Archizoom in particular is today considered the initiator of Anti-Design. Its members questioned from the ground the traditional status-function and basic-nature of design, as well as that of the architectural production.

References

*Lang, Peter and Menking, William: "Superstudio. Life Without Objects", ''Skira'', Milan, 2003 *Fiell, Charlotte and Peter, "Design of the 20th Century", ''TASCHEN Icons Series - Turtleback'', 2001 *Branzi, Andrea: "Radical Notes", ''Casabella'', n. 399, March 1975. *Tafuri, Manfredo and Dal Co, Francesco: "Internazionale dell'utopia, Architettura contemporanea", ''Electa'', Milan, 1976. *Rouillard,Dominique: "Radical architettura", in "Tschumi, une architecture en projet: Le Fresnoy", ''Ed. Centre Georges Pompidou'', Paris, 1993. *Pettena, Gianni: "Archipelago, architettura sperimentale 1959-99", ''Maschietto&musolino'', Florence, 1999. * Prestinenza Puglisi,Luigi: "This is tomorrow. Avanguardie e architettura contemporanea", ''Testo&Immagine'', Turin, 1999. * Patrizia Mello, "Neoavanguardie e controcultura a Firenze. Il movimento Radical e i protagonisti di un cambiamento storico internazionale", Angelo Pontecorboli, Firenze, 2017. Italian art movements